Korea storm back against Dominican Republic for 9-6 win in WBSC Premier12

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Korea storm back against Dominican Republic for 9-6 win in WBSC Premier12

Published: 17 Nov. 2024, 14:02 Updated: 18 Nov. 2024, 08:04

Park Seong-han of Korea celebrates after hitting a two-run triple against the Dominican Republic during the teams' Group B game at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Korea rallied past the Dominican Republic 9-6 at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 in Taipei on Saturday to keep its fading hopes alive for a spot in the next round.

Korea erased a 6-0 deficit at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium in the Taiwanese capital to improve to 2-2 in Group B, scoring five times in the bottom of the eighth to complete the unlikely comeback.

No. 8 hitter Park Seong-han delivered a go-ahead, two-run triple with two outs in that big inning, with a couple more RBI hits that followed rounding out the scoring.

Korea will close out the opening round against Australia on Monday.

The top two teams from the group will advance to the Super Round, where they will be joined by the two qualifiers from Group A, Venezuela and the United States.

Korea does not control its own destiny, as it must defeat Australia and will need some help from other teams to get there.

Through Saturday, Japan was leading the group at 3-0, followed by Chinese Taipei at 2-1 and Korea at 2-2.

In order for Korea to finish in second place, it win and have Chinese Taipei lose its two remaining games against Australia on Sunday and Cuba on Monday.

If Chinese Taipei beats Australia on Sunday, then Cuba must beat both Japan and Chinese Taipei, while Korea must also beat Australia.

Korea's fate will be sealed on Sunday, its offday, if Chinese Taipei defeats Australia and Japan beats Cuba.

The Dominican Republic scored the first run in the top of the second, though Korea did well to limit the damage to just one run after starter Im Chan-kyu loaded the bases with a single and two walks.

With three men aboard, No. 9 hitter Michael De Leon bounced into a 6-4-3 double play that scored Arismendy Alcantara, but Im escaped the inning by getting Ricardo Cespedes to fly out to right field.

Park Dong-won of Korea celebrates after hitting an RBI double against the Dominican Republic during the teams' Group B game at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Korea was held hitless by starter Franklyn Kilome through the first three innings, and the Dominican Republic took advantage of that by tacking on three runs in the top fourth.

After Rainer Nunez opened that inning with a double, Alcantara homered to right-center field to give his team a 3-0 lead and knock Im out of the game.

Reliever So Hyeong-jun gave up two straight one-out singles before Alen Hanson put the Dominican Republic up 4-0 with a single to left.

In the fifth inning, Alcantara launched his second straight home run, this time a solo shot to right field off new pitcher Jo Byeong-hyeon, to put the Dominican Republic up 5-0.

Korea did not get its first hit until two outs in the fifth, a single by Song Sung-mun, but he was stranded at first after Yoon Dong-hee flied out.

The Dominican Republic pulled ahead to 6-0 in the top sixth with Hanson's two-out RBI single. To make matters worse for Korea, third baseman Kim Do-yeong, the team's biggest offensive star of the tournament, was removed from the game during that same inning due to discomfort in his left hip.

Before Hanson's hit, Kim appeared to have tweaked his hip when he tried to tag Cespedes behind his back on a steal attempt.

With Kilome out of the game, Korea rallied with four runs in the top sixth.

Reliever Hector Perez walked the first two batters he faced, and got the hook after getting Hong Chang-ki to ground out to first, a play that put the runners at second and third.

Facing Joely Rodriguez, Shin Min-jae hit a high chopper back to the mound for what appeared to be a routine play. But Rodriguez's throw to first sailed into the foul territory, allowing both runners to score. Shin advanced to third on the error.

Two batters later, Moon Bo-gyeong cashed in Shin with a double to right-center field to get Korea within 6-3. Then Park Dong-won made it a 6-4 game with a double to left field corner.

Korea then completed its comeback with a five-spot in the bottom eighth.

With runners at the corners, captain Song Sung-mun cut the deficit to 6-5 with a single, and then stole second, giving Korea men at second and third.

Park Seong-han cashed in both with a triple to deep center field, putting Korea up 7-6.

Choi Won-jun kept the line moving with a double that scored Park. Then Hong Chang-ki singled off new pitcher Victor Lopez to make it a 9-6 game in favor of Korea.

Closer Park Yeong-hyun, who had come on in the eighth inning, then finished off the game with a scoreless ninth, punctuating the comeback victory with a double play ball off the bat of Hanson.

Park was credited with the win after getting the final five outs. Manager Ryu Joong-il said Park has "the best stuff on the team right now" and thanked the reliever for the shutdown work.

He praised the rest of the team for not quitting after digging themselves a 6-0 hole.

"We couldn't get anything going against their starter but then we scored four times in the sixth after he was gone. That's when I felt we could come all the way back later in the game," Ryu added. "I want to thank the players for battling until the end."

Park said his teammates told him they would score a few runs if he kept the opponents at bay in the top of the eighth inning.

"And then we did take the lead in the bottom eighth. It was an exciting moment but I tried to stay calm and focused," the pitcher said. "We were ahead but I knew the game wasn't over and I had to finish the job. I am satisfied that I was able to do just that."

(yonhap)